Re:

Bad news. We decided not to go. I was invited to talk at the Parliament, but what can one say? That aside, they've got plenty of people giving them bad advice.

Noam

bad for them, good for you. no need to have only one currency, its old fashioned. you are of course welcome to use apt in new york with your new leisure time, or visit new Mexico again.

ants find the shortest route to food, by trying many and discarding what doesn't work, no algorithm, no input or output, only a goal. sounds closer to our problem

There were plenty of warnings about one currency. Not heeded, unfortunately.

Appreciate the invitation, but leisure time? Is that an English phrase?

OK for ants, but don't see how it helps us.

Noam

Neat indeed.

I’m writing about the Iran deal. So far have only sent a form paragraph in response to requests.

On Iran, as usual, I’m a gloomy contrarian. I'm glad the treaty was signed, and it's kind of fun to watch the Republican lunatics shrieking hysterically as they try to kill it (as they may). And Israeli hypocrisy has gone well beyond being comical. But in fact the whole thing is farcical, in my opinion. In the US, Iran is "the greatest threat to world peace", intoned constantly from on high, in the media, everywhere. There is also such a thing as world opinion, as measured by such ultra-radicals as Gallup. It turns out that the greatest threat to world peace is the US, by a very wide margin, no one else even close, and Iran barely mentioned. The American population is protected from these unwanted facts by the Free Press: not reported. There is an organization called US intelligence. They brief Congress regularly on the international security situation, all quite public. On Iran, they point out that it has very limited military power, even by regional standards (a small fraction of Saudi Arabia, for example). Its strategic doctrine is defensive. If — a big If — it has plans for nuclear weapons, that would be part of its deterrent strategy. Now who would be opposed to Iran having a deterrent strategy? Answer is clear: the rogue states that rampage violently in the region and don't want any impediment: the US and Israel, also lesser ones like UK and France. One simple way to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons would be to establish a nuclear-weapons free zone in the region, as has been done elsewhere (over US objections). That's been advocated by the Arab states for 20 years, with very wide global support, including Iran. It comes up regularly at the 5-year review meetings of the Nonproliferation Treaty, at the UN, again a few months ago, when, again, it was blocked by the US to protect its Israel client, which has a huge nuclear weapons arsenal and wants to keep it. Again, the population is protected from such facts by the Free Press (though in this case there are some fringe exceptions, and of course the Arms Control literature). Same with the rest of the litany. Reading the US and UK press is like living in some lunatic asylum. I'm wondering whether to write about it again; have done so repeatedly. It's like talking to a wall. Iran has an awful government, though by the standards of such US allies as Saudi Arabia, it's practically heaven.

Nevertheless, better to have the treaty than not to, given the nature of the asylum.

Noam

ants and evolution work by trying things and finding the best solution. math and physics works by algorithms. I'm suggesting that maybe just as a child sends out many connections and then discards the unused might be a better template for biological thinking.

the mathematical model is quite beautiful, though the basic rules are simple, once they have run over and over again, and produced a result you cannot tease them out by any form of reductionism or algorithm, just like the series 7-21-37... cannot be found by algorithm, it is simply the difference of cubes. Have you written about the Iran deal?

Hi Jeff

I really find it amusing. I don't agree with everything he says. But it is fascinating. BB is making "historic mistakes" (as he likes to blame others) both vis-a-vis Obama as well as in regard to the American Jewry. And causes a direct damage to IL.

Noam is so sharp and focused. Really impressive.

I did not fully understand how the fallacy he sees in the attitude to the Ants example is related to Big Data illusions. An area (deep learning) I spent some time recently trying to better penetrate.

Btw, the series of cubic differences should look 7,19,37,61 (not 21). We greatly enjoyed staying in 62nd. We plan to be back in the last week of Aug. for several weeks (having some speeches to make) will you still be in NM? If positive we might come over for few days. Please let us know.

Best From Nili as well.

Regards

E

Sent from my iPhone

Correct on cube. Do you know what date yet in August?

Hi Jeff

As of now we plan to be in NY around August 25. We plan to work on my biography with the editor. Probably starting Sept 1st. But it's all flexible till Sept 11 and on, when I have my speeches and other events. Best

EB

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